John Albert Mower was born August 1848 in Kanesville, Iowa, the second of three children born to Henry Mower Jr. and Susan Strong.

John and his parents left Iowa, crossed the plains by ox train, and arrived in Utah on 25 October 1849.

The family first lived in the Salt Lake Valley (where John's mother died in 1856).

John and his father then moved to Springville, Utah. In 1862, John and his father moved to Fairview, Utah.

In 1866, when John was 18, he made a return trip with ox teams to the Missouri River to help bring other immigrants to Utah. The group left in May and returned in November. Therefore, John crossed the plains three times before he was married.

Frances Ann Richards was born 30 November 1859 in Union, Utah, the first of eight children born to Silas Richards and Keziah Frances Brady. She grew up in the Union area where her father was the first bishop. Frances Ann learned to pray as soon as she could talk.

Frances wore clothes made by her mother from yarn she spun, dyed, and wove into cloth. Frances wore shoes made by her father until age 10.

She learned to knit when she was five and knitted all of her own stockings. She helped with the milking from age six. She learned to spin yarn at age 12 and learned to weave on a hand-made loom. She saved 13 yards of the carpet she wove for her hope chest.

John and Frances met through their families and were married in the St. George Temple on 21 November 1877. This was a polygamous marriage since John had previously married Sarah Matilda Brady.

John must have liked to keep things simple. Both of his wives were born on 30 November and he married Sarah on 30 November. I wonder why he didn't marry Frances on 30 November instead of 21 November so he would have one less date to remember.

At first, Frances lived with John and his first wife (Tillie). When they bought a one room log house for her, she thought she was a queen. Several of their children were born in this home before it was added onto. They also had a farm with a home on it a few miles north of Fairview at Oakcreek (some records show this as Oakville).

John and Frances' first child was born at Frances' mother's home in Union. Their last six children were born either in Fairview or in Oakcreek. Their children are Silas Willard, Keziah Frances, Hyrum Deloss, Cynthia Ellen, Jesse Lee, Ernest Edmund, and John Franklin